when farmers build instruments...
two RPPC's of alfred nelson, on the back of one is written:
alfred nelson from buffalo min. a plain farmer. plays 32 pc. or. took him 39 years to build it. july 6, 1941
Labels: alfred nelson, music, one man band, RPPC
4 Comments:
looks like an automatic instrument from house on the rock in WI.
http://www.thehouseontherock.com/p7hg_img_1/fullsize/TheBlueRoom_fs.jpg
it appears to be pneumatic of steam operated. 39 years is a long time to create something which probably sounded like a bad orchestra! maybe how it sounds is irrelevant though. i would love to know the motives behind it. glory of god? for the local community? infamy?
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indeed it probably sounded a bit like a carousel... i'm sure he wasn't looking to create his own partch-like world, just probably a tinkerer gone wild. i have a friend who's dad built a scale model of the panama canal to get a better understanding of how it worked. the image also reminds me of a tinguely work that's at the museum in basel. which, indeed does not sound so interesting, but is a hoot to watch, and the mechanics are so loud, they sound better than the "instrument"... i have to say i think it's pretty admirable to spend 39 years on a mechanical sculpture, all alone in your barn just to see your dream realized. infamy might have been part of the deal, but i like to think it was just a human on a quest to see if he could realize something he couldn't stop thinking about...
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